Baths and wash houses available for public use in Britain were first established in Liverpool. St. George's Pier Head salt-water baths were opened in 1828 by the Corporation of Liverpool, with the first known warm fresh-water public wash house being opened in May 1842 on Frederick Street. Wash houses often combined aspects of public bathing and self-service laundry. The Romans, whom the Victorians often sought to emulate, had built many public baths (thermae) open to everyone, but these had long disappeared. For centuries Bath, Somerset, had retained its popularity as a health resort, while during the Georgian era and particularly after the development of the railway, entrepreneurs developed spa towns around the country, catering first to the aristocracy and then to the growing middle class. These commercial endeavours offered nothing for the working poor.
The popularity of wash-houses was spurred by the newspaper interest in Kitty Wilkinson, an Irish immigrant "wife of a labourer" who became known as the Saint of the Slums. In 1832, during a cholera epidemic, Wilkinson took the initiative to offer the use of her house and yard to neighbours to wash their clothes, at a charge of a penny per week, and showed them how to use a chloride of lime (bleach) to get them clean. She was supported by the District Provident Society and William Rathbone. In 1842 Wilkinson was appointed baths superintendent.
Regulation
In 1844, the Committee for Promoting the Establishment of Baths and Wash-Houses for the Labouring Classes was formed with the Bishop of London as president. The Bishop petitioned for a bill for the regulation of public baths and in 1846 Sir George Gray introduced the bill which became the (9 & 10 Vict. c. 74). This was the first legislation to empower British local authorities to fund the building of public baths and wash houses.
The act was intended to encourage cities to voluntarily build such facilities and was not mandatory. Manchester, for example, did not adopt the act until 1876; in the following year, it purchased two large, privately owned, facilities. By the late 19th century, the city had 30 bath houses.
London baths The first London public baths was opened at Goulston Square, Whitechapel, in 1847 with the Prince consort laying the foundation stone. The building was demolished in 1989 and the site re-used to build the Women's Library in 2001, which incorporates a faux wash house frontage (Facadism). A reasonably well-preserved bath house can be found in the Bathway Quarter in Woolwich, south east London.
Timelines +First public wash houses in LiverpoolWash houseOpening datePier Head 1828Frederick Street1842, rebuilt 1854Paul Street November 1846Cornwallis Street May 1851Margaret Street 13 June 1863 with an extension in 1868Steble Street April 1874
+Early public wash houses in London with building costsOpeningLocationOriginal cost 1849Marylebone£23,671 1851St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster£15,000 1852St. James', Westminster£21,000 1852Poplar£11,500 1854St. Giles and St. George, Bloomsbury£20,857 1854Bermondsey£16,500 1855St. George, Hanover Square£33,861 1856St. Martin's in the Fields£21,000 Other bath and wash houses: The Wells and Campden Baths and Wash Houses 1888–1978, Hampstead Heath.
See also Birmingham Baths Committee Self-service laundry Washerwoman
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